Alternet - The
attorney for President Donald Trump argued in court
Friday that while he has no evidence to support a claim that a 2024
pre-election poll constituted fraud, the president’s lawsuit against The Des
Moines Register and its pollster should be allowed to proceed.
The president has claimed in
court that the opinion poll, published just three days before the November 2024
election and showing him trailing his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, by
3 points in Iowa, was fraudulent. He is suing the newspaper and pollster J. Ann
Selzer, alleging consumer fraud and citing the fact that he ultimately beat
Harris in Iowa by more than 13 points.
The Register and Selzer recently
filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that an election poll, regardless
of its results, does not fit the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act’s definition of a
commercial transaction, and that the lawsuit is also barred by the First
Amendment’s protection of free speech.
In written briefs filed with the
court this week, Selzer’s attorney, Robert Corn-Revere, called the legal claims
made by the president and his attorneys “not just wrong — they are ridiculous.”
He asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that even if all of the
president’s factual assertions were deemed true, there’d still be no legal
basis for the lawsuit.
On Friday, a Polk County District
Court judge heard oral arguments on the motions to dismiss.
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